BUYING BACI HAZELNUT CHOCOLATES which originated in Perugia, Italy, in the UK for Christmas

Perugia, capital of Umbria. Gateway. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

Pastry shop in Perugia. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. You can also find chocolate shops.

Chocolate Problem
I am nuts about nut chocolate. I love the high from chocolate, but like the crunch of the nuts, the variety.  More nut and less sugared chocolate in each bite means you can eat more. Nuts are real food which keep you going.

I tried the Baci hazelnut chocolates in Perugia. Now I want to buy in the UK. Why?

Chocolate Answers
Why Baci? Back is italian for kisses. If you want chocolates from Italy, you have a good choice. Ferrero Rocher, once a rarity, chocolates with hazelnut centres, protected and enhanced by a foil covering on each chocolate, are now in every supermarket and newsagent I enter, at all prices.

We give the Italian Ferrero Rocher Chocolates every year for Christmas and, frankly, it gets a bit boring, no longer a treat and not a surprise. But B a c i, similar but different, would be surprise, a change. The love messages inside are a bonus. But where can I buy them?

I tried checking the Baci and Perugini  and Nestle company websites. Very interesting. I learned a lot of Italian words translating. I even found the English word shop, but that led nowhere.

Mysupermarket
First stop is Amazon. I could combine shipping with other orders to get free shipping or ask a family member who is a member of Amazon Prime at their business.

Sure enough, they have Baci, but at rather high prices IMOH, or should that be IMHO (text speak for in my humble opinion).
The lowest price was just under £13, plus postage if you are paying postage.

I've seen Italian Ferrero Rocher, and Belgian Guylian seashell shape chocolates, in the London, England, Poundshop. Great to put in your pocket for a weekend break, to eat on the train, eat at the hotel if you arrive after supper and want something to eat with a late night drink at the bar, or a bedtime treat to share with your partner arriving late at night at a hotel.

What about the budget supermarkets, Lidl and Aldi and Asda, the big Tesco and Asda branches, open 24 hours for those who must have a late night shop for chocolate?

Asda, on the Edgware Road, near Kingsbury. Open 24 hours. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

I tried googling the words 'buy' and 'Baci', and supermarket, and found the Mysupermarket comparison website. Very handy, but not for this product. I wasted a lot of time creating a password, being asked to enter my favourite local stores in London, but found no answers about Baci from the local Lidl, not stocked.

A general search, persistence, eventually produced results.

I found:
https://www.flowersbuydelivery.co.uk/shp/list.php?filter=1&brand=88
They offered all kinds of Baci products, from the white chocolate to the dark. Also varied numbers of chocolates and styles of packaging and prices.

The 'sticks' are the cheapest, not as generous nor as grand packaging as a box, but a useful novelty stocking filler.

Useful websites:
https://www.flowersbuydelivery.co.uk/shp/list.php?filter=1&brand=88

I was beginning to wonder whether it would be easier to go to Perugia. If you are going to Perugia, remember to bring me back some Baci. Or maybe somebody would send me some for Christmas. I can add it to my Christmas wish list. Along with the request - instead of a big present or an expensive Christmas meal, I'd like a travel trip to a city. (That's what I said about a wedding anniversary, and we went to Cambodia.) Read my previous posts on Cambodia and Italy.


TRAVEL TO PERUGIA, UMBRIA AND ITALY
www.umbria.it

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
For more on chocolates, chocolate shows in the UK, Chocolate exhibition in Perugia, and Perugia and Umbria Tourist sites, see my previous posts. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Poundshop in UK and Spain and Europe

I was looking at Poundshop on line. Their season events section included Halloween. I was also interested in flower bulbs to plant in the autumn for next spring.

The website makes it easy to find the cost of postage. It's just under £4, but free if you spend more than £35 - which means 35 items. If you can't find 35, you could get together with a neighbour or other members of your family or people at a club.

the best thing is that they are not just in England.

They say: "We deliver to all areas of the UK. We also deliver to Spain (excluding the Canary Islands.), France, Republic Of Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg & Portugal.

I shall put that in alphabetical order:
Belgium
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Portugal
Republic of Ireland
Spain (excluding Canary islands).

That's basically countries near England and the UK in Europe. So, if you are on holiday or spending winter in Spain, or visited friends and want to send them that you gifts, you can send the goods to other countries outside the UK.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Cheap T Shirts for making matching outfits

t shirts for only a pound in a variety of colours? Just what I need.  I have been through my wardrobe. I have shorts in patterns and t-shirt with slogans and pictures and they clash. I need plain colour shorts and plain colour t-shirts to make up sets to wear.

Otherwise I have loads of separates which don't match anything. But the family have banned me from buying more clothes because I am spending too much and the wardrobes are overflowing yet aI claim I never have anything to wear and to out looking bizarre with two many clashing patterns, or take hours to dress.

Yes, I know the problems with cheap tee-shirts. Wear it once and it's stained.  (Answer is to tie - dye it.) The seams split. The fit isn't right - too tight or too baggy or just not smart enough for the nice restaurant at lunch or supper.

Needs ironing if it's cotton. Cheap and nasty if it's synthetic, and the fabric won't match anything else.

I still feel I must look at the website. What do I find. Most of those lovely colours, the emerald green and bright orange are only for children. Ladies long sleeves are black, or white, OK, that goes with a lot of things. Ladies are also in pink and yellow. But what If I want long sleeves to guard against mosquito bites and dengue fever? I can wear a jacket or blouse on top of a short sleeve tee. To get navy I would have to buy a men's size. Best to go into a shop to see the sizes and colours and fabric. Good for a gift for a meeting, Xmas, or summer picnic or barbecue, sports day or running club or give or lend to a friend for jogging together.

http://www.poundshop.com/fashion/clothing?p=2&utm_campaign=HFPS-TS-26-03-16&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Newsletter

Sewing an outfit
If you want matching shorts, at that price you can afford to buy two pairs and cut shorts. Or use the second pair to make a wide strip into a wrap around skirt to wear over bikini bottoms or shorts which don't match but provide a flash of contrasting colour. You could even buy three to make matching shorts, t shirt and long sleeve shirt or jacket. Use a spare strip to add a scarf or attach it as a mock scarf. Make a belt to match from strips seemed and turn inside out. Sew both narrow end edges straight or in a v-shape.

Pocket using No sew Velcro
To make a safety pocket for your keys, travel card or credit card or phone, use a strip on the inside for a pocket. To fasten sew a loop and a button. Or a slit edged with blanked stitch and a button which matches or contrasts. Or iron on or sew on a piece of velcro (stick and loop tape).

If you can't get to Poundland for summer offers, also look at Primark. Primark has white crew short sleeve t-shirts for ladies from £3. Stores are in UK, Wales, Ireland, the USA and Europe.
See
primark.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer

Loos of the world, London loos and toilet tours

The Romans idea of toilets was rather communal, as you can see if you visit Vindolanda at Hadrian's Wall.

If you are a tourist visiting the UK, where should you not relieve yourself? Not on the side of the airport terminal building. Not on a war memorial.

Where can you go? The usual system is to stop for a coffee or snack and use the toilet. Or go into a shopping mall and use the public toilet.

On a motorway, large numbers of cubicles.

In France you can use a toilet in any bar as well as asking for a glass of water to drink.
Most large hotels won't mind if you are well dressed and ask the way politely and look at their cafe menu and browse in their shop.

LONDON LOO TOUR
A tour guide called Rachel Erickson runs Loo Tours of London. Here's the link to the BBC video about her.
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27486586?post_id=698460596_10154644904150597#_=_
lootours.com

LOO BOOKS
When browsing in a big bookshop, you might buy a souvenir book about toilets.
Some books on loos?

Toilets of the World

How to Shit In The Woods

A book on mishaps:
Up Shit Creek: Collection of Horrifyingly True Toilet Misadventures by Joe Lindsay

And my favourite loos, London and worldwide?

London's Best Loos?
The ladies at Hedonism wine shop in Mayfair. A TV screen giving you the latest news.

The door is not marked. It's next to the downstairs tasting room and there for people who've sat drinking at their tastings.

UK Toilets

At Hadrian's wall a Roman tourist attraction shows the Roman toilet, a row of seats, holes, in a long platform. You can buy pictures of it.

Garages and service station malls on UK motorways have free toilets.

In London the one on Euston station charges money.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn restaurant, Ladies. Individual cloth to dry your hands. 

You could copy this idea for meetings inexpensively with a set of three facecloths for £1 from the Poundshop or similar in most UK high streets, plus any round or square box, with a basket on the floor for the used towels.

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn Restaurant, Ladies toilet. How jolly.

Singapore Toilets
Grandest toilets and bathrooms are in the five star hotels.

The grandest toilets are in top hotels and restaurants.

Slimline cistern on modern toilet at Restaurant Tristan in Horsham.

Temporary toilets can be hired for events. This grand version for a wine tasting at Nyetimber vineyards has a painting about the toilet in a cubicle in the ladies.

ASIA
Malaysia
Grandest toilet in the central top hotel with a flushing device inside the toilet so you can wash yourself before (physically) and aft (physically),  and after (timewise).

These toilets sold by the Japanese can also be bought in the UK. Saves space if you don't have room for a bidet and only one device to clean, not two.

See writings by Angela Lansbury author such as Quick Quotations: Lulu.com Amazon.com LinkedIn YouTube